Students 'cannot afford to take up college places'

Thousands of students may be turning down university places because they cannot afford to go to college, admissions officials said yesterday.

Last year, 29,000 students won places but did not take them up. Now the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, UCAS, is to carry out research into where they go.

Tony Higgins, chief executive of UCAS, said he believed lack of money was now a key factor. However, the problem would help to prevent a squeeze on places this summer because others could take up vacancies.

With 396,000 applicants - 4,000 more than last year - and 270,000 places, most students who failed to get their first choice of university would find a place if they were flexible, Mr Higgins said. He urged students not to delay and to take up a place this year if at all possible - a rise in the number of 18-year-olds could mean tougher competition next year.

Last year universities with places on unpopular courses such as science or engineering resorted to phoning schools to ask if there were any students still looking. Most replied that they had three or four who said they could not afford to become students. Many had decided to take up jobs and to think about applying at a later date.

Mr Higgins said the anecdotal evidence tied in with a report from the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals which said an increased student drop-out rate could be connected with financial hardship.

"Our surveys among schools on the telephone and casual contacts tell us that there are a number of students in schools who get their places but then say they are not going to go," he said.

This year, UCAS will target students who have at least two A-levels and those who have applied but have not taken up a place, he said. It will then interview a sample of these students to find out why they have decided not to go into higher education.

Predictions of chaos in the clearing process last year and fears that large numbers of students would be fighting for a few vacant places had turned out to be false, Mr Higgins said. In fact, universities which set up phone lines to take calls from students found they went quiet within a few weeks. One factor in this was students deciding they could not afford to go to university or did not want to get into debt in order to get a degree.

Next year, more students will apply as the number of 18-year-olds begins to rise. It will continue to do so until the end of the decade, and the traditional A-level applicants will be joined by an increasing number armed with vocational qualifications. This year, 89 per cent of the 9,000 applicants with General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) introduced in 1992, have been offered places compared with 86 per cent of all applicants.